On the Edge
by LizzySong
Summary: Bruce finds Selina, cold and alone, and decides he needs to help. - Set after 4.04, and so contains major spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: I'm back with more Baby Batcat! I got a request on my tumblr to write something where Bruce and Selina drink hot cocoa together on a cold night. ...It was going to be fluffy, then I watched the new episode, so it's more angsty than anticipated.

Chapter 1 is focused on Bruce, 2 is focused on Selina, 3 is both of them.

Hope you enjoy!

He'd noticed her when he was out that night. He'd been careful to make sure she didn't see him, but he watched her, jumping and balancing across rooftops with ease like she always did.

But then she stopped, sitting on the fire escape of an abandoned building. This wasn't entirely out of the ordinary for Selina, who enjoyed being out by herself. But this night was particularly cold, and it wasn't like Selina to be out longer than she needed to be in this weather if she had a place to stay.

The night was abnormally quiet and the cold was beginning to get to him, so he decided to head back to his warm home.

He couldn't get the thought of Selina sitting alone in the cold out of his mind, however. Things had been rocky between the two lately, but he couldn't stand the thought of her freezing in the middle of the night. She was, after all, the only friend he had left; though he quickly shoved that thought out of his mind. He didn't want to think about Alex. Not right now.

Bruce waited until Alfred had gone to bed, then made his way to the kitchen. He thought of what to make to bring to Selina, and after several minutes of debating with himself, he decided on hot cocoa. He remembered how much she'd liked when he'd make it during the brief time that they were living together on the streets.

When he'd finished making it, he found a thermos and two mugs. He filled the thermos and stuffed it and the mugs in a bag. He pulled on his coat and left the manor, hoping to find Selina in the same spot he'd seen her an hour earlier.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been another day of disrespect and belittling from Barbara. Tabitha hadn't shown up again, leaving Selina to deal with Barbara alone.

It had only gotten worse since the night she couldn't get the knife from Bruce, but she was afraid to leave, knowing that Barbara might turn her in to Penguin for attempting to steal from him -- without, of course, mentioning that Selina had only done it because she was told to.

Once she'd finished with Barbara, Selina decided to stay out for a while instead of heading straight home to Tabitha. She felt like herself again, balancing and jumping across rooftops.

It was cold, and she wished she'd worn her old leather jacket, which had proven itself well-insulated over her past years of living on the street.

Eventually, she decided to sit down on the fire escape of an abandoned building. She let her legs dangle over the side, and crossed her arms on the railing, resting her chin on them.

She'd gone to Tabitha because she wanted to move up in Gotham, but this didn't feel like moving up. Selina felt trapped. She was just an errand girl, which to her was much worse than living on the street -- at least then she was in charge of herself.

She sighed and looked down at the street beneath her, noticing that it was a particularly quiet night. Maybe Penguin's crime licenses were working after all.

She didn't know how long she'd been lost in thought, but when she came back to her surroundings, most of her body was numb. She considered getting up and heading home, but decided she wasn't quite ready to be questioned by her so called mentor.

While she was once again lost in thought, she heard a quiet voice just behind her say "Selina?"


	3. Chapter 3

Here is the final chapter! I know this one was short, but I hope you still liked it! Remember, you can send me more Baby BatCat prompts either by PM on here, or sending it to my tumblr (same username and profile photo as this account). Seriously, if you have prompts or requests, please send them to me.

Without further ado, here is the third and final chapter!

"Selina?" Bruce said quietly. He was standing on a step of the fire escape, just above the landing Selina was sitting on. Her head whipped around to look at him. She'd been caught off-guard, which surprised both of them.

She let out a breath and turned her gaze back down to the street. "What're you doing here?" "Looking for you." Selina rolled her eyes, but didn't respond. They stayed that way for several moments before Bruce stepped down to the landing Selina was on. He took a few steps until he was standing next to her. "...Can I sit?" he asked. "Can't stop you," Selina said, still not looking at him.

Bruce sat next to her and brought out the thermos and mugs he'd packed, filling each up with cocoa. He handed one of the mugs to Selina, who eyed it suspiciously, "What's this?" "Cocoa."

Selina took a hesitant sip. It was warm and comforting, and she smiled a little, still refusing to look at the boy sitting next to her.

After a few moments of sitting and sipping cocoa, Selina felt something warm being wrapped around her shoulders. She turned to face Bruce, who had taken off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. "What are you doing?" She asked in a somewhat harsher tone than she'd meant to. "You're shivering," Bruce said, "How long have you been out here?"

Selina shrugged in response, lifting her mug to her lips again. "Selina," Bruce started again, but she interrupted him, "What, Bruce? Why did you really come here? You wanna ask me for something, then just do it. Don't act like you care about me. Don't bring me hot chocolate, don't give me your coat, just say what you gotta say and leave." As she said this, she took his coat off her shoulders and threw it at him.

Bruce was taken aback by this reaction, especially when he saw that there were unshed tears filling Selina's eyes. But he was also angry -- he was trying to help her. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, this was the way things tended to go with Selina; but tonight it felt different. Tonight he couldn't take this from her the way he usually would.

"Things haven't been easy for me either, Selina!" Bruce said, mirroring Selina's outburst, "You're still mad at me for not giving you the knife? Well maybe you're right. Maybe I should have. Maybe if I had Alex--" tears suddenly sprung to his eyes and he tried to choke them back.

Selina gave Bruce a confused look, startled out of her own frustrated tears. Bruce had never mentioned an Alex before. He had looked away from her now, staring down at the street and trying not to break down in front of her.

"...Who's Alex?" Selina asked in a softer tone than she'd used before. Bruce just shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. Selina sighed, "...I'm sorry, okay? You were right. I _am_ just Barbara's errand girl." Tears sprung to her eyes again, and she too looked back at the street below.

"...He was a friend," Bruce said after several moments of silence, in a voice so quiet it was nearly a whisper, "Alex. He was my friend." "What happened to him?" "He died. Ra's Al Guhl killed him, and it was my fault." "But _you_ didn't kill him." "If I would've just given up the knife, he wouldn't have killed Alex."

Selina debated telling him that if this guy was like all the other criminals she'd dealt with, then it probably wouldn't have mattered if Bruce had given up the knife or not. But that didn't seem like something that would make him feel better.

So all she said was, "I'm sorry." Bruce let out a shaky sigh, wiped away the tears he couldn't hold back, and looked at Selina smiling slightly, "Thank you."

Selina nodded, then suddenly hugged him, surprising both herself and Bruce. She just hated seeing that boy cry.

He hugged her back -- things might never be simple between the two, but Selina was the only friend he had left, and he cared about her.

"...Do you want to come home with me? I'm sure there's a room made up that you could stay in." Selina was surprised by this, she hadn't expected to see Bruce, much less have him invite her to stay with him. "Really?" She asked. Bruce nodded. Selina smiled, she didn't want to admit it to him, but she didn't want to go home to the small, cold apartment she shared with Tabitha. Not tonight. "Thanks," she replied.

They waited a while longer before leaving the small landing for Bruce's home. Things would never be straight forward between the two, but they had each other, and despite everything, they knew they'd always have friends in each other.


End file.
